Mastodon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Mastodon | |
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| Mounted mastodon skeleton, Museum of the Earth. | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Proboscidea |
| Family: | †Mammutidae Hay, 1922 |
| Genus: | †Mammut Blumenbach, 1799 |
| Species | |
Mastodons or Mastodonts are elephants of the extinct genus Mammut and the family Mammutidae. Mastodons became extinct approximately 11,000 years ago. Mastodons, along with mammoths and modern elephants, are members of the order Proboscidea. As adults they stood between 2.5 and 3 meters (8-10 feet) at the shoulder and weighed between 3500 and 5400 kilograms (4-6 tons). Today, paleontologists are trying to understand why.
